From here on out, the Islanders have the dual focus of development and pride.

The former will be aided by their recent signing of 23-year-old defenseman Kevin Czuczman, the product of Lake Superior State who was one of the most coveted free agents coming out of college.

“We’ve obviously watched him quite a bit, he’s a guy that the organization targeted months ago,” coach Jack Capuano said after Thursday’s practice, Czuczman’s first with the team as they returned from their four-game western Canada trip with a 2-1-1 record and prepare for Friday’s Coliseum match against the Sharks. “Good size, good skill, high-character guy. So he just got through practice today and get him acclimated, and we’ll see at what point we put him in going forward.”

At 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds, Czuczman at least adds a defenseman to the system that has some size. With Calvin de Haan and Matt Donovan already in the NHL — and with Griffin Reinhart and Ryan Pulock in their respective minor-league levels — the Isles lack much of a physical presence on their blue line, not just in this lost season, but into the future.

“They’re really working with me as I make the transition from college,” Czuczman said, spending much of the hour-long practice listening as coaches and players waved their hands this way and that. “It’s a totally different style hockey. Here it’s much more efficient, it’s not run-and-gun like it was in college. So they’re helping me with that and helping me take the next step in my career.”

Czuczman signed his entry-level contract, a three-year $2.7 million deal, which will burn it’s first year out after the final 15 games of this season. He had career highs of 10 goals and 31 points in 36 games this year as a junior at Lake Superior.

“At the end of the day, the Islanders, I just had the best comfort with them,” said Czuczman, who is from Port Elgin, Ontario, and spent the summer working out with Isles star John Tavares. “I like the culture going forward. [It is] a good group of young players.”

The thing is, that group of young players — along with a handful of debilitating injuries, none more important than the season-ending knee injury to Tavares which occurred while playing for Team Canada in the Olympics — has put them in the position they are right now: last place in the Metropolitan Division, tied for 27th-overall in the 30-team league before play on Thursday.

And that has led to a current roster that is high on prospects and short on established NHL players, including speedy winger Michael Grabner, who is out with a concussion at least through the weekend, continuing on Saturday with a home game against the last-overall Sabres. That led to the recall and likely insertion into the lineup of forward Johan Sundstrom.

“Sometimes down the stretch here, in situations like this, it can get tough some days,” said forward Kyle Okposo. “But when that puck drops, we have to be ready to play and ready to compete.”

Now Okposo is on a top line that no longer has Tavares, nor Thomas Vanek, the latter traded for picks at the trade deadline. Instead, it’s now Frans Nielsen in the middle, and rookie Anders Lee on the left. Okposo, for one, has been seriously impacted by his team’s falling out of contention and opting for the full-on youth movement, and yet is trying to be optimistic about it.

“A lot of them are taking advantage of it, and a lot of them are playing well,” said Okposo, who at 65 points is still one short of Tavares for the team lead. “It’s a pretty good silver lining that some of these kids get to grow and mature into their roles as who they’re going to be as hockey players.”